Patrick Girod’s work combines the ecstatic effulgence considered endemic to his native France with the strictness and humility associated with Switzerland. Working with oil on canvas in a traditional drip technique, Girod’s meandering compositions match the fanaticism of Pollock with the austerity of the Minimalists. Equally heuristic and playful, Girod’s oil drips appear in modest quantities but act fiercely upon the senses, creating a "neuronal impressionism" reminiscent of music, dance and dream life. Thin, wailing lines come to meet delicate droplets falling in place like cosmic constellations or notes in a swinging musical score. In other instances, we see Girod’s swift stroke take on anthropomorphic qualities, suggesting movement and bodily communication. Form, line and composition take precedence over color, paring the imagery down to a truly sensate decadence wavering between everything, nothing and the void.
Patrick Girod was born in 1957 in Pontarlier, France. Educated in Switzerland, he currently lives and works in Switzerland and France.
For my work, I take an emotion, a spectacle and work it in my head for a time, and then I translate that onto canvas…fast. I paint just that moment when life is about to change, the instant when a smile becomes a tear, when freedom from care becomes concern, when white becomes black. I try to approach, understand and capture this brief moment. During this time, I float between nothingness, a dream, and simplicity. The result is intense works that stir emotion in the viewer. I typically work with bicolor or tricolor on white with oil paint. My culture says to me that I can't lie with my art, so I try to reach that moment of truth.
